The Kiev regime seeks to fully exploit the Black Sea initiative, not shrinking from abusing the rules of procedure or demanding bribes from the ship owners, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary distributed on Wednesday.
"Currently, there are real difficulties with the registration of new ships and inspections at the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul," she pointed out. According to Zakharova, they arise solely as a result of the actions of representatives of Ukraine, as well as of the United Nations, who are unwilling or unable to confront them.
In Ukraine, setting aside not only any humanitarian considerations, but also basic decency, they seek to exploit the Black Sea initiative, not shrinking from demanding bribes from shipowners or abuse of the rules of procedure, said Zakharova. "Everything is for the sake of maximizing commercial profits," the diplomat noted.As Zakharova noted, owners of incoming ships who refuse to pay a bribe are forced to stand idle for months waiting for their registration. "The dry-cargo carriers, which have already paid the Ukrainians, have to wait for the inspection as well. This situation is due to the fact that in accordance with current customs (we emphasize - not the rules of procedure) the process of obtaining applications for registration in the Black Sea initiative is handled by the Ukrainians, while the formation of inspection plans (for entry and exit vessels) is done by the United Nations", she continued.
In such circumstances, the only way to restore order was the registration of the ships, which the experts from Russia carry out strictly within the approved rules of procedure and their respective powers, the representative of the Russian diplomatic mission stressed. But Russia's proposal to include the ships to be sent to the countries in need, particularly to Africa, as well as the ships on the waiting list for months, was met by the Ukrainian representatives "with hostility," she said. Ukraine turned out not to be ready to jeopardize its commercial corruption schemes, as a result, the Ukrainians, not agreeing with the Russian proposals, first blocked the registration process, and then stopped all inspections, including the ships leaving (27 ships with 1.2 million tons of cargo), Zakharova said. "The calculation is simple - run the propaganda machine with the Westerners and the UN and 'play the food card' again," she said.
West's reaction
The diplomat pointed out that EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Moscow was allegedly breaking its promises to the countries that need grain and blocking 50 ships in the Black Sea. "The EU did not stop there and expressed a strikingly absurd and amateurish conviction: the sanctions imposed against Russia are so calibrated and balanced that they do not interfere with Russian agricultural exports, as exemplified by Russian grain shipments under the Black Sea initiative," she added. - "It is a pity that Brussels has not yet understood that only Ukrainian products are exported within the framework of the grain deal on the Black Sea. Washington is used to giving out 'valuable instructions' to other countries about their obligations, while completely forgetting about its own."
According to Zakharova, the Europeans have shown themselves utterly disregardful of the countries' needs for fertilizers and grain. Westerners and Ukrainians don't take the trouble to analyze the implementation of the Black Sea initiative (not to mention the non-implementation of the UN-Russia memorandum) or try to comply with their own statements on global food security, she stressed. "In fact, having 'ignored' the initial humanitarian purposes of the Istanbul package agreements and having signed themselves in complete disregard for the needs of countries in grain and fertilizers, the Europeans have thrown all their efforts to satisfy Kiev's growing commercial appetite and solve their problems of 'stocking' warehouses with cheap Ukrainian grain," the diplomat concluded.
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Photo: Press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry / TASS
Based on materials from TASS